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Terry Eagleton

Criticism and IdeologyGeorge Hsieh, 2002/12/3


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Categories for a Materialist

CriticismGeneral mode of Production (GMP)

the dominant mode of a unity of certain forcesand social relation of material production.

Literary mode of Production (LMP) A unity of certain forces and social relations of

literary production in a particular socialformation.


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LMP

Different or conflictual LMPs may coexistwithin a particular social formation.

Ex. oral and written LMPsThe internal complexity of LMP areconstituted by production , distribution ,exchange , and consumption , all of whichwill be function of its modes of articulationwith other LMPs


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Relations of GMP and LMP

the forces of production of the LMP are naturallyprovided by the GMP itself, of which the LMP is aparticular substructurethe relation between LMP and GMP are dialectical

the social relations of the LMP are determined by thesocial relations of GMPthe social relations of literary production whichreproduce the social relations of general productionis historically variable and determinate


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CriticismGeneral Ideology (GI)

a dominant ideological formation produced byGMP.


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Relations of GI and LMP

GI typically contains certain general elementsor structures, which may at a particular historical stage bear significantly on thecharacter of the LMP. Three generalstructures are linguistic, political, and thecultural

A literary text is related to GI not only by howit deploys language but by the particular language it deploys


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Relations of GI and LMP

Different LMPs may reproduce the sameideological formation. Conversely, the same

LMP may reproduce mutually antagonisticideological formationsThe direct control of GI on the literary text iscensorship


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Criticism Authorial Ideology (AuI)

the effect of the author s specific mode of

biographical insertion into GI. It is never to betreated in isolation from GI, but must bestudied in its articulation with itIt is not a simply matter to specify the

historical period to which a writer belongs; nor does a writer necessarily belong only to onehistory


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Criticism Aesthetic Ideology (AI)

a specific region of GI. AI is an internally

complex formation, including a number of sub-sectors, of which the literary is one


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Relations of AI, GI, and LMP

A GMP produces a GIwhich contributes toreproducing it; it alsoproduces a (dominant)LMP which in generalreproduces and isreproduced by the

GMP, but which alsoreproduces and isreproduced by the GI

GMP

GI LMP


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Relations of AI, GI and LMP

The ideology of LMP isitself encoded within

AI; it is the effect of aconjuncture between

AI and GI.Reading is anideological

decipherment of anideological product

LMP

GI AI


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Relation of GI, AI and AuI

Authorial ideology may be an important determinantof both the type of LMP and the aesthetic ideologywithin which an author worksThe relation between AuI and GI may be transformedby their mediation in terms of AI


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CriticismText

the product of a specific overdetermined

conjuncture of the elements or formations setout schematically above


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Towards a Science of the Text

What is the literary text?The text is a production of ideology

Ex. A dramatic production does not express ,reflect or reproduce the dramatic text on which itis based

The relation between text and production is arelation of labour


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in what sense is it correct to maintain thatideology , rather than history, is the object

of the text?Ideology is not just the bad dream of the

infrastructure (false consciousness). It is more

like a mesh, which filters other real in order topresent the real it carries.


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For what would it mean to claim that a textwas directly related to its history?

A text may speak of real history, but even if itmaintains empirical historical accuracy this isalways a fictive treatment

History enters the text precisely as ideology,as a presence determined and distorted by itsmeasurable absences


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What is the precise object of literary text?What doest the text denote ?

The literary text produces its own object, andpresents itself as its own product.The text s means of production would include theaesthetic categories (genres, forms, conventionsand so on).The text s product would encompass particular themes, plots, character, situations


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How does text concretize the abstract?The text strikes us with the arresting immediacy of a

physical gesture which turns out to have no preciseobject because its fictivenessFiction (text) does not trade in imaginary history as away of presenting real history; its history is imaginarybecause it negotiates a particular ideologicalexperience of real history


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How does text become poetic? Fictiveness is a certain dominance of the signifying

practiced over the signified so that as thesignified becomes more abstract , putative or virtual, the signifying process is correspondinglythrown into certain relief. The poetic discourse ischaracterized by such a disturbance of thenormative relation between signifier and thesignified.


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To what precisely constitutes the literarywork s signified ?

The signified within the text is its pseudo -real the imaginary situations which the textis about


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Criticism on Althusser Althusser s view: Art does not replace

knowledge. What art makes us see is theideology from which it is born, in which itbathes, from which it detaches itself as art,and to which it alludesEagleton s counterargument: Ideology is notknowledge, it is not pure fantasy either


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Criticism on Althusser Althusser s Consumer -centredness: it is the

reader who is the final guarantor of the validityof the textEagleton s view: every text can be seen as aproblem to which a solution is to be found;and the process of the text is the process of problem solving


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Animal Farm

Regardless Orwell s personal statement,nonetheless, Animal Farm is not Orwell s

political advocate, rather, it is a product of the anti-soviet ideology. Moreover, beingdetermined by this ideology, a pseudo-

reality is created in Animal Farm topresent an anti-utopian ideology.


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Animal Farm

GMP: Economics recovering after WWII.GI: Avoiding conflict to USSR, and

concealing information related to her.LMP: Censored by the British government

AuI: To reveal the evil side of Soviet gov.

AI: Journalism=>to reveal the truth, andclaims for the freedom of the press.


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Animal Farm

Real History:Russian Revolution: October 25, 1917.

Antagonism between Trosky and Stalin.Economics transformation of USSR.German Invasion in WWII.

Postwar arrangement.


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Animal Farm

Pseudo-reality in Animal Farm Inversion of the chronological order of the

events.Real history has been simplified.History enters as an ideology.


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Animal Farm

Anti-utopian Ideology:Power corrupts

Seven Commandments=>single ruleOblivion of the glorious past . Reconciliation between men and pigs.Everything returns to the past.

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